Christmas Tree Color Sorting Mats
Mastering color recognition is a key milestone for preschoolers, and these fun ideas for teaching colors to preschoolers are a breeze. These are the best Christmas activities for preschoolers for reinforcing color learning.
We’ve got you covered with engaging and festive ideas perfect for toddlers and preschoolers, whether at home or in the classroom.

Christmas is a naturally colorful time of year, making it the perfect backdrop for teaching colors to preschoolers. From the vibrant red of Santa’s suit to the deep green of Christmas trees, the holiday season is filled with visual stimulation that can be harnessed for learning.
These Christmas tree color sorting mats capitalize on this colorful environment, providing children with real-world examples of colors in action.
By incorporating colors into Christmas-themed activities – We have Christmas letter recognition activities and Christmas math activities – We can make learning more relevant and engaging for young children. They’ll be excited to learn about the colors they see all around them during this special time of year.
We also have Christmas Tree Beginning Sound Puzzles.
Teaching Colors to Preschoolers
Color recognition is one of the few skills that really does need to be mastered before entering kindergarten. By the end of the year, preschoolers should be able to not only match rainbow colors (including brown, black, white, gray, and pink), but they should also be able to name colors.
More advanced preschoolers should be able to identify significant color variations, too. (Like the difference between light pink and dark pink, for example).
For those with limited exposure to colors, it might feel like there are a lot of colors for preschoolers to learn. To help my preschoolers learn their colors, I’ve created a number of color sorting mats.
- Gingerbread Christmas Color Sorting Mats
- Paint Can Color Sorting Mats (for Toddlers)
- Snowman Color Sorting Mats
- Healthy Foods Color Sorting Mats
Christmas Tree Color Sorting Mats
Color sorting activities are one of the most popular ideas for teaching colors to preschoolers, especially to preschoolers who haven’t had a lot of “color exposure” before coming to preschool. These mats are a colorful (pun intended) and fun addition to your Christmas activities.
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Materials
- FREE Christmas tree printable
- color manipulatives
- Star erasers are a stellar alternative to stickers that kids can use over and over again. This bulk…
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- Rubber.
- 【Premium Material】Our buttons for crafts are made of durable resin, can be sewn, glued, or taped…
- 【Variety Design】Our buttons set offers a random wide variety of shapes, sizes (0.5 – 1 in), and…
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- Premium Material: These craft pompoms are made of high-quality polypropylene fiber, not easy to…
- You Will Receive: You will get 1900pcs pompoms with 100pcs self adhesive wiggle eyes, enough…
- Color: 19 assorted colors pompoms, total 19 bags; Each color is individually packaged, so you…
The Set Up
Print the Christmas tree color sorting mats in color on cardstock and laminate for added durability. Cut apart and place on a preschool table with some color manipulatives of your choice. Pom poms are always a popular choice, but you can also use legos, buttons, or transparent color counters.
How to Teach Colors to Preschoolers
The primary activity that inspired this simple (but oh-so-fun) preschool activity is straightforward.
Invite your preschooler to use their fingers, tongs or tweezers to sort the pom poms on the Christmas tree sorting mats.

Using the tweezers can be hard for many preschoolers. They are hard to “tweeze”, which is by design because it really works on strengthening their hands.
Read this: Hand Strengthening Activities Using Playdough.
Preschoolers who do not have the hand strength to use the jumbo tweezers the traditional way may try to use two hands. I do not correct my preschoolers when this happens.
I always demonstrate how to properly hold and use the jumbo tweezers, however I don’t try to “fix” their grasp of the tweezers. Like developing pencil grasp, their grasp of the tweezers will change and progress as their hands and fingers develop more strength.

Alternatively, young preschoolers or toddlers might choose to use their hands to transfer the pom poms. This is ok, too. Picking up each pom pom requires the use of the pincer grasp, so they will still be working on fine motor skill development.
Now, since the Christmas trees also have ornaments, preschoolers can be invited to count each one and then add their counters over the top of each ornament. This will challenge their hand-eye coordination and dexterity.

Ideas for Teaching Colors to Preschoolers
There’s nothing I appreciate more than being able to print off a single printable and have a ton of different ways to use it. That saves me both time and money. Here are 7 other ways to use these Christmas Tree Color Sorting Mats:
- Provide older preschoolers with various color sorting manipulatives that may be more difficult to use with tweezers. Connecting cubes, for example, may be more difficult.
- Add even more fine motor fun by inviting your preschoolers to make their own rainbow pom poms by crumpling up construction paper or tissue paper.
- Try the opposite and present the mats already filled with manipulatives and invite your preschoolers to remove them.
- Or, cover the mats with random colors of pom poms and have your preschooler practice color sorting by removing all the wrong colors from each mat.
- Invite younger preschoolers to just explore using the tweezers or tongs. Don’t worry about the color sorting.
- Add a math component by rolling a die and inviting your preschooler to count sets of pom poms onto the rainbow Christmas tree mats.
- Make small copies, and multiple copies, of the rainbow Christmas trees to place in a sensory bin. Throw in all your rainbow pom poms and some scoops to make a complete Christmas sensory bin where your kids can freely explore colors.
Grab Your Free Christmas Tree Color Sorting Mats
Simply fill out the information below and your printable will be delivered to your email.
More Color Activities for Preschoolers
Teaching colors is a staple in preschool, which is wonderful because it is truly so much fun! Here are some more color activities for preschoolers you’ll also love.
- Coloring Block Task Cards
- Rainbow Tree Color Sorting Cards
- Dinosaur Color Sorting Activities
- Color Sorting and Matching Games
- 8 Hands-on Color Sorting Activities
- Rainbow Playdough Color Sorting
- 10 Hands-on Color Recognition Games
FAQ About Teaching Colors to Preschoolers
The easiest way to introduce colors to young children is to talk about them! It’s easy to point out colors you see throughout the day in a natural way.
~ Comment on the colors you toddler chooses. “I like your red shirt! It’s the same color as mine.”
~ Invite your child to choose between two colors. “Would you like the green cup or the pink cup?”
~ Point out colors as you read books. “This duck is yellow, but this one is white. Can you find another ___ duck?”
By the end of preschool, before a child enters kindergarten, they should know all the following colors:
~ red
~ orange
~ yellow
~ green
~ blue
~purple
~ brown
~ gray
~ white
~ black
Advanced preschoolers might be able to name shades of the above list of colors by adding “light” or “dark” modifiers. Some might even be able to identify colors by saying things like, “greenish-blue.”
Like any other content you teach your preschooler or toddler, you want color activities that will make learning fun. Variety is key! Here are some tips to make learning about colors more enjoyable:
Include color activities that involve whole-body movement.
~ Try matching colors.
~ Go on scavenger hunts.
~ Play “I Spy.”
~ Make color collections.
~ Create rainbows using random items from around the house.
~ Practice sorting by using color items.
~ Have “dress in ____” color days…or do the same with foods.
~ Play “Where’s the Thimble” with specific color items.

I’m Sarah, an educator turned stay-at-home-mama of five! I’m the owner and creator of Stay At Home Educator, a website about intentional teaching and purposeful learning in the early childhood years. I’ve taught a range of levels, from preschool to college and a little bit of everything in between. Right now my focus is teaching my children and running a preschool from my home. Credentials include: Bachelors in Art, Masters in Curriculum and Instruction.